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I placed my ginger indoors beside a window, and they started growing. Some grew really fast, and some hardly at all. Why is this the case? Also, are their stems too weak/thin? I used a pair of wooden chopsticks to support one of the stems as I was afraid it would break. Do I need to add compost? I have been using potting soil all along (for the past two months).

J. Musser
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KSY
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  • Leave the stems alone. Chopsticks here act like a 'cast' on your arm? Atrophy. As close an analogy with humans I could use. Let them droop. What is your light situation? Have you done this before? The plant is below the surface. All you see growing on the top are the initial photosynthetic parts of the plant. Once there is enough energy being produced with a few photosynthetic stems the plant puts more energy into making foord/energy for itself. – stormy Nov 20 '16 at 01:07
  • ....once the available food factories are making sufficient energy for the daily overhead as well as putting a large percentage aside as stored energy for the winter it will put just enough energy into the smaller stems to keep them as 'back ups'. Otherwise, most of its energy is being directed to the 2 or 3 vigorous, energy/food producing stems. It uses just enough energy to make food, new vegetative growth and/or flowers/reproductive growth. Very efficient. If one of those vigorous stems were to be broken or the roots have grown and need more sustenance then more stems/leaves are grown. – stormy Nov 20 '16 at 01:20
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    What part of the world are you in, and is the ginger the culinary kind, used for its roots, or one grown for its decorative flowers? – Bamboo Nov 20 '16 at 13:23
  • Usual issue with ginger (IMPE) is that most windows don't offer nearly enough light. The plant will grow (if it's not absurdly dim), but not flower, in that case. Stem size varies with many factors including particular species of ginger and age of the plant. – Ecnerwal Nov 23 '16 at 17:19

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Looks healthy to me! I don't think a support is necessary. If a cane grows too long for the pot, you can trim it (cut off the last 1/3 of that cane). Make sure they get as much light as possible, to avoid etiolation.

You don't need to add compost to a potted plant, but you can fertilize, if you can provide bright light as well. The reason some of them are bigger is that they came out of dormancy sooner. This is common in ginger, as well as other rhizomatus plantings (planted while dormant).

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J. Musser
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